Brands get up, close and personal with their audience using chatbots

Picture credits: ThinkstockA recent batch of IIM graduates on Day One of induction at a leading FMCG multinational had a question: “How can we use chatbots?” To clarify, it was not just an attempt at dropping jargon but a genuine query. A chatbot (in case you were wondering) is an automated chat-tool with elements of artificial intelligence.Very simply put, it is scalable chat. Messenger services – that have become powerful social hubs with organic aggregation of audience – could well be the next realm of marketing. After all, in an attention deficit and younger marketplace where else will you find an audience of this size at one place, and under one domain?

While WhatsApp has steered clear of letting advertisers in, other platforms are eagerly creating their own digital ecosystem. While Facebook’s latest advent with bots won’t replace the marketplace of apps, it is definitely a lower-threshold engagement – perfect for a market like India, says Tripti Lochan, CEO, VML SEA & India.

Brands can boost their own engagement by using bots, she adds. This happens via helping users make product choices, check for store location, return products, order food, book appointments, even engage with campaigns.

Hike messenger claims to be the largest Indian internet company with a user base of 100 million, 90% of whom are young and below 30. Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO, Hike Messenger believes, “Brands have the potential to engage wonderfully in a ‘social setting’ where it’s easier to share, collaborate a nd have a seamless communication experience.Messaging will do for mobile, what the browser did for the desktop times a 100, as most apps in one’s mobile will become contacts.”

All of this presupposes the apps are adding value and not clutter to the already messy, attention deficit lives of consumers. Anil K Nair, managing partner, Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi says, “These apps have been designed to keep this ecosystem dark, subterranean and not very brand friendly, while being very people friendly.”

It’s not as if they are closed, but the creators have mostly not factored in brand presence. While Facebook refused to comment on the advertising policy for both WhatsApp and messenger, the stated policy for WhatsApp, created by its founders is, “We are not fans of advertising. WhatsApp is currently ad-free and we hope to keep it that way forever.”

WeChat allows creation of a ‘subscription account’ or a ‘service account’. The former lets brands push out communication messages to their followers and the service accounts lets brands use WeChat as a personalised customer service tool.

According to Harshil Karia, managing director at Schbang, a digital agency, “apart from WhatsApp, all services have tried to create some form of engagement with marketers.”

So while WeChat and Viber are more in the space of public conversation, Facebook Messenger is in the space of one on one conversations. Photo messaging app Snap chat allows brands to create custom location based stickers aswell as Snapchat lenses, besides allowing brands in the users’ main feed.

Views Vikram Menon, president and country head - OgilvyOne Worldwide, India, “We’re still experimenting. Messaging is inherently a platform built to facilitate interaction with friends and one’s social group, and brands do not form a part of either of these groups.” He shares the example of deploying WeChat for 5Star a few months ago, where they created a bot, a meme generator and a game. Snapchat seems to show some promise, in his view, and going forward there are plans for a few campaigns on that platform too.

McCann Health recently deployed WeChat for Narayana Health, the multi-specialty hospital chain and is launching various features like on-demand health tips, doctor and hospital look ups etc. “It is one of the few messaging services that has a concept of ‘official accounts’ for brands to interact with its community,” says Dr Harshit Jain, country manager, McCann Health India.

One area where these apps could play a huge role is customer service, feedback and experience – essentially in enhancing the brand experience as opposed to brand communication. Agrees Rahul Gautam, VP - marketing, Ford India, “The next stage involves businesses interacting with customers, which will open up immense possibilities of personalising services and experiences, and real-time conversations with customers by inviting them to reach out with any questions and concerns.”

Says Sabyasachi Mitter, managing director, ibs, “The biggest strength of messaging applications is the ability to empower brands to have a dialogue with customers making communication personal and precise and enabling technology marketers to do campaigns with a segment of one.”

After all it is every marketer’s dream come true to be able to reach out to their TG on a one to one basis. Whether this dream will become a nightmare for customers who abandon either messaging service or block advertiser is the next million dollar question.

Let's Chat

The big applications in the mobile messenger mix and what they stand for:

By and large Indian brands are yet to adopt these apps in a big way but it's a matter of time before the inflection point occurs, point out most digital and social media marketing experts.